Given they've the most settled side in Test rugby, even the dogs in the streets of Buenos Aires probably know the Argentinian line-up at this stage, and in making just one enforced change from the team which trounced Italy in Rome 36-6, coach Marcelo Loffreda has named all the old familiar faces. In Irish eyes, only too familiar.
Even the one change sees the injured Roberto Grau replaced by the long-haired Castres loose-head Mauricio Reggiardo, hardly a stranger to Munster or Irish teams.
Compared to the Buenos Aires meeting almost two and a half years ago, the Pumas retain eight of that line-up as well as Felipe Contepomi, a replacement on the day, while seven of that Irish team are starting again. However, compared to the World Cup quarter-final play-off in Lens over three years ago, Ireland have only five of that starting line-up, whereas, remarkably, Argentina have a dozen of their team as well as Contepomi, again a crucial replacement on the night.
Such continuity is an advantage, admits Loffreda: "It means that the groups and the team grows in confidence. For me to manage the team, the confidence of the players is one of the main things. Of course if they don't play well they will be moved out of the team but in general they perform well so they stay inside the team."
The average age of the team is 27-and-a-half, and they have over 600 caps between them at an average of over 40 per man; another remarkable statistic when you consider they have no annual championship to compete in such as a Six Nations or Tri Nations.
A flip side of all this is that the World Cup may well prove a swansong for the nucleus of the team, or at any rate they'll have some serious rebuilding to do before the 2007 World Cup. But for the time being they remain a strong and seasoned outfit.
That said, with the inclusion from the start of Contepomi at outhalf instead of the prolific but comparatively one-dimensional Gonzalo Quesada, Loffreda is clearly endeavouring to broaden the scope of the Pumas, which traditionally has been a hard-edged, strong scrummaging, mauling, kicking game.
"We need to have a more integral, broader game. We need to play in other phases and places on the field, but we know which are our strongest things. We are not going to neglect that, our scrum, the strength of our forwards, but on some occasions we will try to move the ball to other parts of the field because we have more confidence in our ability to do that."
By a similar yardstick, he also believes the Irish team is stronger now that two or three years ago, benefitting as they do from an annual competition while, he believes, they too are collectively more experienced now and broader in scope.
"I think the top three in the Six Nations are Ireland, England and France. I don't have any doubt about that here and now. Saturday's game will be a good test for us to know where we are."
Playing down the importance of tomorrow's result, Loffreda commented: "I always say, for me I don't think the most important thing is the result. I think you must improve in the game, you have to improve many things - the defence, the play with the ball, the turnovers, the scrums, the rucks, the mauls. You must always have the mentality of wanting to improve all the components of a game. You will see the real results in the World Cup. If the results come now, well, better for us. But this is a path, a path to the World Cup."
The Pumas' training session in Naas rugby club was strictly closed but thereafter to describe their open media day and team announcement as informal would be akin to saying a Bohemian dresses casually. There was no formal announcement per se, the English speaking players mixed patiently and co-operatively with the media, and then everyone present went inside for an indoor-style barbecue hosted by Naas Rugby Club.
Along with some token salad and bread rolls, vast quantities of meat (and Argentinians do love their red meat) were rolled in salt for hours beforehand and were then cooked on a specific type of charcoal - which had taken two days to locate - by the track-suited president of the Argentinian Union, Miguel Servera.
With everyone in good heart, after the speeches and exchange of mementos, the mayor of Naas, Timmy Conway, decided to lead the raucous tourists in a rendition of The Wild Rover, whereupon the Pumas' prop Omar Hassan responded with a couple of Spanish baritone numbers. With Tommy Lawlor, brother of Phil, then taking the podium for the Fields of Athenry, it didn't show any signs of stopping there.
It was time to make our excuses and leave.
ARGENTINA: I Corleto (Stade Francais); G Camardon (Roma), J Orengo (Grenoble), L Arbizue (Bordeaux), D Albanese (Leeds); F Contepomi (Bristol), A Pichot (Bristol); M Reggiardo (Castres), M Ledesma (Narbonne), O Hasan (Agen), I Fernandez-Lobbe (Castres), R Alvarez (Perpignan), S Phelan (CASI), G Longo (Narbonne), R Martin (SIC). Replacements: J Villar (CUBA), M Scelzo (Narbonne), P Sporleder (Curupayti), M Durand (Champagnat), N Fernandez Miranda (Natal Sharks), J Fernandez Miranda (Hindu), J Nunez Piossek (Huirapuca).
The Irish-qualified rugby league utility back Gary Connolly, who plays his final rugby league game for Great Britain against New Zealand tomorrow, will join English Division Two side Orrel and has declared his desire to play in next year's World Cup in Australia.
